A girl named Lionel

I've got another book for you but don't let the subject matter scare you off.

I promise you that it's the kind of book you call in sick to stay home to read.Or maybe not, once you see what sickness gets you.

Novelist Lionel Shriver, born Margaret Ann Shriver, has written an oddly life-affirming work about disease, dying and the obscene cost of medical care in contemporary America as seen through the eyes of searingly real and complicated characters.

The novel takes an unflinching look at love and loyalty in the face of almost-certain death...which includes our own, of course.

The protagonist, a likeable guy by the name of Shep Knacker, has spent his whole life saving and building a business with one goal in mind: the Afterlife. He's spent a large portion of his working life counting down the minutes until he can retire and move himself and his family to a cheap third world country where he can live like a king on a pittance.

Tickets bought, he's about to tell his wife it's now or never when she announces that she's just been diagnosed with a rare form of cancer.

The very best thing I can say about this book is that it's not remotely sentimental. You'll cry, of course, but not because you're manipulated into doing so. This isn't Brian's Song.

Shriver confronts the grim truth of mortality with brilliance and humour. And I promise you at least one moment where you'll say "Oh my God!" out loud to an empty room.

Don't be afraid to pick this up. Guaranteed good read.

What about love?

Love Etc. finished the Doc Soup season last night. The film followed five engaging love stories over the course of a year in New York City.

Young, old, gay, straight, single or married for 48 years, -- every story had a common thread: the search for and cultivation of love. When this film is released -- which I hope it is -- I hope you run out and see it.

I'm not one to be quoting scripture, but the stories reminded me of 1 Corinthians 13. If you're not the believing sort, you've probably heard it read out at weddings. The couples and singles in the film seemed to embody the verse at various stages. Here it is if you need a primer.

Love is patient,
love is kind and is not jealous;
love does not brag and is not arrogant,
does not act unbecomingly;
it does not seek its own, is not provoked,
does not take into account a wrong suffered,
does not rejoice in unrighteousness,
but rejoices with the truth;
love bears all things,
believes all things,
hopes all things,
endures all things.

The film reminded me of Young@Heart in its celebration of the heart truths of ordinary people and the things that bind us.

But, I haven't even gotten to the best part of the night, which was this.

It being the Bloor, the first seat I chose was broken. When I found an alternate, the woman I sat beside started chatting with me, then paused and said, "Didn't we live beside each other in Cabbagetown?" Yup. I sat beside my old neighbour. After the Doc, when audience members were invited to ask questions, I recognized a voice. It was the guy from work who I replaced at a radio record yesterday.

Life Brand

I recently reconnected with an old high school friend on Facebook.

We went to the same Catholic girls school. Our lockers were fairly close to each other and we shared the same home room for a couple of years. She was a terrific volleyball player.

We lost touch over the years, though another high school friend who stayed put in our northern Ontario town, gave me periodic updates on how and what she was doing.

When I was recently in Ethiopia, she emailed me to let me know her daughter was working at a medical clinic in Uganda.

Over the past few weeks, her status updates have grown increasingly more concerning. She's mentioned a variety of medical appointments, a diagnosis and a pre-op booking. She thanked all her pals for their support.

So yesterday I emailed her privately to say that while I didn't know what was going on, I hoped it wasn't serious and I was sending her my best wishes.

Turns out it's serious. Very serious.

After having felt distinctly unwell for the past 6 months -- pins and needles, frozen to the bone -- she received a diagnosis of Cervical Spondylotic Myelopathy in February. It's osteoarthritis in the neck that causes pressure on the nerves and the blood supply.

Since her diagnosis in February, her symptoms are progressing.

She can't straighten the baby finger in her hand and has had an acute disk rupture in her back. Movement is becoming nearly impossible.

After consulting a neurologist in Toronto, she learned that if she didn't have surgery, she'd be paralyzed.

She wrote, "One thing I have learned through all of this is that you truly never know when your quality of life will be altered, so treasure your good health while you have it."

Her surgery is today.

Please turn your eyes upwards our outwards and say a little prayer for Robin.

How it's done

Since I travel often, and often to places other people avoid, I've long since been a fan of Trip Advisor.

If you're looking for a room in Nha Trang, chances are someone has something interesting to say about a cute little spot on the beach near the fishing boats or, more importantly, where you'd be best to leave the light on in the bathroom to keep the roaches at bay.

In the spirit of karmic payback, I regularly write my own reviews when I return from a place.

That's why I was interested to receive the following message from the CEO this week after hackers compromised some of their data. It's COMS 101 -- admit your mistake and move on -- but it's done particularly well. I'd be interested to know if they had any feedback on it. My favourite lines: "The reason we are going directly to you with this news is that we think it's the right thing to do. As a TripAdvisor member, I would want to know."

To our travel community:
This past weekend we discovered that an unauthorized third party had stolen part of TripAdvisor's member email list. We've confirmed the source of the vulnerability and shut it down. We're taking this incident very seriously and are actively pursuing the matter with law enforcement.

How will this affect you? In many cases, it won't. Only a portion of all member email addresses were taken, and all member passwords remain secure. You may receive some unsolicited emails (spam) as a result of this incident.

The reason we are going directly to you with this news is that we think it's the right thing to do. As a TripAdvisor member, I would want to know. Unfortunately, this sort of data theft is becoming more common across many industries, and we take it extremely seriously.

I'd also like to reassure you that TripAdvisor does not collect members' credit card or financial information, and we never sell or rent our member list.

We will continue to take all appropriate measures to keep your personal information secure at TripAdvisor. I sincerely apologize for this incident and appreciate your membership in our travel community.

Steve Kaufer
Co-founder and CEO

Reading to my inner child

My parents never censored or augmented my reading, so I grew up with fairly eclectic tastes.

Recently, one of my co-workers gave me a copy of Bridge to Terabithia.

It's one of the young adult novels I missed while I was likely reading the entire Happy Hooker series.

If you haven't read it, run out and get yourself a copy. For one thing, I guarantee you a good cathartic cry. I also guarantee a renewed appreciation for conveying complex concepts in simple terms. It's an art form -- like this nearly perfect sentence:

Sometimes you need to give people something that's for them, not just something that makes you feel good giving it.

Or this:
It's like the smarter you are, the more things can scare you.

Maybe all this perfection is why Bridge to Terabithia won the Newberry Medal for the most distinguished contribution to American Literature for Children. And it's probably why several generations of children -- and adults -- have responded to the timeless truth of its words.

Don't believe your own hype

I have to admit to being partial to seething insecurity over ego any day. It's just so much more pleasant to build someone up than to try to bring them down a peg or two.

Ultra Sound Off

I thought ultra sound technicians were taught not to reveal anything about the test you were having while you were having it.

I guess the technician doing my Ma's electrocardiogram missed that class. Which might explain why she went on to talk loudly about finding her blocked aorta, speculating about the severity of the blockage and marveling that she hasn't (yet) felt any pain.

The technician also repeatedly remarked about my Ma's "big boobies". Nice talk when you're dealing with a 78 year old woman.

There's no telling what all of this means until we have the benefit of the family doctor's analysis to pull everything together. There are other tests before that happens -- including the unenviable task of getting my Ma to pee into a tiny cup.

Good times. Good times.